


The Sound of Silence

by Wolfcry22



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Concerned Eddie Kaspbrak, Coughing, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Protective Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is a Mess, Sick Character, Sick Richie Tozier, Sickfic, Sneezing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25243234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfcry22/pseuds/Wolfcry22
Summary: Prompt- Richie comes down with a pretty bad cold that quickly affects his vocal cords. Whenever he tries to speak, he winces in pain or has a coughing fit. He can barely speak above a whisper and has to write everything down. Not to mention, his throat is in a lot of pain. So every time of coughs or sneezes it’s just horrible. Cue Eddie trying to help.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 4
Kudos: 92





	1. People Talking Without Speaking

**Author's Note:**

> I recently had a surge of productivity and I found some more inspiration to write another IT Chapter 2 fic. I just couldn’t stay away from one of my favorite ships. Eddie taking care of Richie is one of my favorite things and I thought it would be interesting if Richie was sick with something that made it difficult for him to talk since he’s always running his mouth in the best way. I hope that you all enjoy it! 
> 
> Mild warning for language.

A raspy and painful sounding cough echoed through the small apartment in Atlanta, Georgia. Eddie glanced up when he heard it with worry surging through him. He glanced down at the soup that he was making in front of him, the spoon ladling the steamy liquid. He was trying his best to try and ignore the man in the other room, who was trying to work as furiously as possible while being almost completely out of commission. However, it was almost impossible when he heard the painful sounding coughs that jarred his entire body. 

Eddie tapped the spoon against the large pot before setting a lid on top of it. He frowned as he pulled the apron he had been wearing aside and walking over to the small living room area. He glanced over the couch to see Richie leaning forward while he wrote furiously in an attempt to come up with some more material for his stand up routine. Eddie had kept trying to force him to sleep and rest, but Richie had been so against it. Eddie had tried not to push it as he kept his distance, his eyes slightly shadowing in worry as he looked to him. 

Richie paused from his writing when he guessed that someone was watching him. He glanced back over his shoulder and slightly narrowed his eyes at Eddie. “What are you doing,” he whispered since that was all that his strained vocal cords could manage. 

“I’m just worried,” Eddie answered as he tried to take in Richie. He couldn’t tell if he sounded worse than the last time that Eddie had checked on him. He could tell that he still had a fever that seemed to pulse through him. His breathing was raspy and seemed to wheeze in his chest. “About you.” 

Richie turned back to his writing, letting out another painful cough that shook his shoulders. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain as he lifted a fist to almost massage it against his chest. “Ouch. You don’t need to be,” he whispered back so breathlessly that Eddie barely heard. 

“I beg to differ,” Eddie sniffed in distain. He walked around the couch and sat down beside Richie. He lifted his hand and brushed it under Richie’s hair to feel his forehead for fever. The heat was certainly there and he didn’t like the way that Richie shivered when Eddie’s hands traveled the rest of the way around Richie’s face. “Hmmm, you’re still pretty warm.” 

Richie drew back sharply from Eddie. “Really? Because I’m freezing.” He shivered under his thin sweatshirt as his teeth began to chatter. 

Eddie picked up a blanket on the other end of the couch and threw it over Richie’s shoulders and helped bundle him up. He then almost forced him to lean back as Eddie grabbed the TV remote. “How about we watch something until dinner is ready,” he suggested sweetly.

Richie opened his mouth to clearly speak against it, but the look in Eddie’s eyes made him rethink it. He finally nodded instead of speaking because it was just too painful. Eddie switched on the TV and turned on an episode of NCIS. He draped an arm around Richie’s shoulders as Richie lowered down so that his head was rested on Eddie’s shoulder. His hot cheek seemed to burn against Eddie’s flesh through his shirt, but Eddie wasn’t about to say anything to Richie about it. 

The two hadn’t been sitting long when Richie sucked in an impressive breath and lifted his head from Eddie’s shoulder. He turned and pitched forward slightly over his right. “HRchsSHSH! HrchrSHSHS! HrchrHsSHS! HRchsSHsSH!” Richie suddenly gasped in agony at the sneezes that raked his throat ever so painfully. Tears seemed to collect in the corner of his eyes and he was powerless to do anything about it. 

Sympathy showed on Eddie’s face as he leaned over toward Richie. He glanced around before he found this tissue box on the coffee table and plucked a few from the box before handing it over to Richie. “Here,” he offered. 

Richie took the bundle and slightly rubbed it against his sore nose. He had been sneezing for days now since the illness first struck and he had successfully rubbed a layer of skin from his nose off thanks to the amount that he had been sneezing. Richie was a fairly often sneezer, even when he wasn’t sick. Richie had always been self-conscious of it and Eddie knew not to tease him about it. Although, now he was more worried about if they could make Richie’s voice even worse. 

“This sucks,” Richie suddenly announced with a thick swallow, grimacing at the intense pain.

Eddie rubbed at Richie’s arm through the blanket. “I know,” he sympathized. He longed to take the pain and discomfort that Richie was feeling away from him. Illness seemed to always hit Richie hard when they were kids and now was no exception. “Is there anything that I can do?” 

Richie groaned as he fell back against Eddie. Richie always became overly clinging when he was sick as well, but now Eddie didn’t seem mind. Usually being around anyone that was sick would send him over the edge, but when it came to Richie, he cared too much to not spend every moment with him. After he almost died, he never thought that he would be able to see Richie again until he woke up in a hospital bed to find Richie almost latched onto him. That was almost two months ago and Eddie still disliked to be away from Richie for extended periods of time. 

Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie and held him tightly. He lowered his head and planted a soft kiss on top of Richie’s head, savoring the smell of his shampoo. The two then looked at the TV and finished the episode that was on. Once it was finished, Eddie looked down to see that Richie was almost asleep, and even though he knew that his boyfriend needed to rest, he also knew that Richie had to get some food into him to keep up his strength. 

“Come on. You need to eat,” Eddie chided as he squeezed Richie’s arm in an attempt to rouse him.

Richie’s eyes opened slowly as his head buckled down and he coughed toward Eddie’s lap. Eddie stiffened instinctively while Richie drew back in shock. “S-Sorry,” he sputtered through strained coughs. Just talking seemed to make the coughs worse while his eyes pooled with tears of pain. 

Sympathy settled in Eddie’s stomach as he stretched out a hand to slightly pound at Richie’s back in an effort to break up the congestion. “Alright, it’s okay. Breathe, breathe.” 

Richie managed to catch his breath again as he gave a powerful swallow that only seemed to cause yet more pain. Richie opened his mouth to say something before wincing even more in pain as he lifted one hand to rub at his throat. Eddie grasped Richie’s other hand and gave it a firm squeeze. “Don’t try and talk. I know that it hurts. You don’t have to be sorry. I know that you don’t feel well.” 

Eddie then straightened and helped Richie to his feet. Richie slightly staggered while still having the blanket wrapped around his shivering frame. Eddie led him forward with his arm grasped against his forearm to lead him over to the small dining room table that they had at the end of the kitchen. He set Richie down and allowed him to keep the blanket around him. Richie looked almost blank while his mouth was parted as he struggled for each rasping breath that flowed through his irritated lungs. 

While Richie rested, Eddie took the opportunity to pour both him and Richie some bowls of chicken noodle soup. He carried it back to the table and set it in front of Richie and himself. However, when he saw how tired Richie was, he decided to move his chair so that he was sitting right beside Richie, with their shoulders almost brushing. Richie didn’t say anything to Eddie clustering closer to him and Eddie didn’t expect him to. 

“I hope you like it,” Eddie began as he sat down beside Richie. He lifted his spoon into the bowl and brought it up to his lips. He watched Richie do the same as he lifted the spoon with shaky hands. He swallowed it, but Eddie couldn’t tell if he enjoyed it or no. “Is it good?” 

Richie looked like he wanted to answer, but his throat was hurting way too much to actually speak. He drummed his fingers against the edge of the table as if he realized how difficult it was to not be able to speak when he wanted to. Eddie had never seen Richie so quiet before and while it was enjoyable not to hear his mouth moving, he would’ve much rather Richie be joking and laughing with him instead of struggling to speak. 

Eddie held up a finger before he turned around and grabbed a pen and paper on the counter, setting them down in front of Richie. “You can write down whatever you want to tell me. That way it won’t hurt your throat or vocal cords.” He took his seat beside Richie once more. “I’ll also try to ask you more yes or no questions that can be answered with a nod, alright?”

Richie nodded in appreciation. He then turned back to his food with Eddie doing the same. They ate in silence, which never happened, and Eddie was relieved to see that Richie ate more of the soup that he originally thought that he would. He had tried to feed Richie a few other things when he first became ill, but Richie had turned down everything. Eddie didn’t want him to grow any weaker and it seemed that this soup did the trick.

“You done,” Eddie asked as he looked questioningly to his bowl as he rose to his feet with his own bowl in his hands. Richie nodded and Eddie picked up the bowl and took it to the sink. He then came back and pointed to the pad and paper. “Do you want to go back to the couch or go to bed? We’ll do whatever you want to do.”

Richie scribbled words down quickly with Eddie looking over his shoulder to read them. 

Couch and 90 day fiancé?

Eddie smiled as he comfortingly patted Richie’s shoulder. “You got it. Settle on the couch and I’m going to make some tea.”

Richie slowly rose to his feet with the blanket tightening around his shoulders. He shuffled forward as he sniffled wetly. He had hoped that the soup would’ve coated his throat and maybe even help his vocal cords, but it did no such thing. He still could barely talk and that just added to the body aches and just sick feeling that had settled upon him. However, he wouldn’t have wanted to sick with anyone besides his Eddie. Too many times he had holed himself in his room when he became sick since he didn’t want to bother anyone else and he didn’t trust easily. Being back with Eddie like he had been when they were kids just made everything better, even being miserably sick. 

He made his way over to the couch and sat down heavily. He was half tempted to try and get some more work done, but his mind was just too fuzzy to concentrate on it fully. He settled on just wrapping the blanket tighter around himself as he shook thanks to the fever. His limbs felt like cement while his bones ached deeply. He slightly drew forward with his head in his hands as he willed his body to just fight this off like it was supposed to do. 

“This should help your throat,” Eddie exclaimed as he came back around and set the tea in front of Richie on the coffee table. He frowned when he saw Richie leaned forward with his head in his hands. “Hey, what’s going on?” He sat down beside him and rested a hand on his back. “Talk to me, or write it down for me.”

Richie pulled his head from his hands and glanced up to Eddie. “I just feel like shit,” he whispered so quietly that Eddie hardly heard him. A single tear rolled down his cheek while Richie sniffled heavily. “I don’t want to feel this way.” 

Eddie felt his heart break for his boyfriend. He wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. “I know, I know. We’ll get through this, just you and me.” Eddie began to rock slowly with Richie bundled in his arms. “I promise that I’m going to make this better.”


	2. People Hearing Without Listening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie does his best to make Richie feel better, no matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone’s kind comments! I did miss this fandom and writing about these guys, so I will do my best in the future to write even more. This next part is pretty short, but I wanted to write something to close the story up.

Eddie lifted the steaming cup of tea and tried to hand it to Richie when Richie finally straightened. However, when Richie took the cup, his hands began to shake madly, nearly causing the scaling hot liquid to slosh over the sides. His eyes blinked in surprise while Eddie reached his hands around Richie’s to help steady him. Eddie helped lift the tea up to Richie’s lips and Richie took a few sips before grunting to let Eddie know that he was done. 

Eddie set the tea down before reaching for the remote. He turned on the TV and switched on 90 Day Fiancé. He and Richie had gotten hooked on the show and watched reruns as well as the new episodes. They would always make fun of the couples and laugh. Eddie doubted that Richie would have the strength to do so this time. It was more of a comforting thing to watch the show than actually much pay attention to it. 

Richie pulled his legs onto the couch and rested his head on Eddie’s shoulder, savoring his warmth. Eddie smiled affectionately as he glanced down to Richie. Even though Richie was sick, he did enjoy spending some quality time with him when neither one of them were working.

They hadn’t laid together for long when Eddie could see that Richie was becoming more and more uncomfortable. He lifted a hand to rub at his nose a few times and then tried to do so with a corner of the blanket and with his wrist. Eddie bit his tongue to keep from saying anything until Richie blinked his eyes madly while his nostrils flared desperately. He turned away with a shake of his head as he squinted his eyes before closing them and rubbing so harshly against his nose that it looked like he was trying to rip it off. 

“Hey, hey,” Eddie began as he reached out a hand and grasped Richie’s hand firmly, pulling it from Richie’s much abused nose. He tried to ignore the moisture that he felt at the tips of Richie’s fingers as he looked Richie in the eyes. “What are you doing?” 

Richie frowned as he bit on his bottom up. He sniffed as he motioned to the pen and paper. Eddie reached out with his free hand and handed it to Richie. Richie took it and scribbled something down quickly.

Don’t want to sneeze. 

“But, it’s not good to keep yourself from sneezing when you have to,” Eddie pointed out.

Richie frowned as he wrote something down angrily. 

It’ll hurt!

“I know that it will. But, your body needs to expel some of those germs as much as you don’t want them to. It hurts, but it’s necessary,” Eddie told him gently.

Richie looked down in embarrassment. Eddie couldn’t blame him. This wasn’t his favorite thing to talk about either, but it needed to be said. Eddie reached down and grasped Richie’s hand and gave it a powerful squeeze as Richie turned his hand to be able to hold onto Eddie’s hand. “Squeeze my hand if you need to if the pain is too strong. I’m not going anywhere.” 

Richie gave Eddie a respectful glance before the itch seemed to spread through him. His nostrils flared and his breath began to hitch desperately. He ducked his head down in the blanket in as much cover as he seemed willing to do. “HrshSHSSH!” The first sneeze tore of him roughly and he squeezed Eddie’s hand so strongly that Eddie felt like Richie may break it. “HrhssHsSH! HrchrsSHsHS!” The next two were just as powerful and much messier than the first. Richie blinked his eyes a few times again as he paused briefly. Eddie was about to ask if he was done when Richie’s head snapped forward one last time. “HrhsSHsSH!”

“Bless you,” murmured Eddie as he reached forward with his free hand to grab a few tissues. He handed them to Richie with Richie taking them into his free hand and wiping at his nose. He didn’t dare blow since that would only make things worse in his mind. 

Richie set the crumpled tissues aside with his nostrils growing red and irritated. He lifted a hand to rub a fist against his painful chest while he let out a few coughs that shook his entire body and Eddie in the process. Richie still had a tight grip on Eddie’s hand and Eddie wasn’t about to pull his hand away. He needed Eddie at his side and he was beyond appreciative that Eddie hadn’t freaked out on him or quarantined him to his room—at least not yet. That wouldn’t have been possibly without therapy and patience on both their ends. Richie was just pleased that his illness had at least waited until Eddie was mostly stable with his fears. 

“Alright, you did well,” murmured Eddie reassuringly while Richie still had a death grip on his hand. “I promise that I’m going to be here the rest of the night and whenever you need me too. Do you understand that?” 

Richie gave a nod while wincing from the pain. He wasn’t even speaking and he could feel the agony rising inside of him. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes, but Richie wasn’t about to let that happen. After all, that would only make the pain worse and make him seem weak.

“Come here,” instructed Eddie as he swung his legs onto the length of the couch with his back rested against the armrest of the couch. He slightly pulled Richie forward and between his legs with the blanket still wrapped around him. Richie was slightly reluctant to the idea of laying back and tensed when Eddie grabbed his shoulders. However, Eddie continued to pull on Richie’s shoulders until Richie stopped resisting him. He laid back and his head rested on Eddie’s chest so that he could hear Eddie’s strong heartbeat under him. It was a sound and feeling that Richie feared he would never have the chance to hear again. His feverish eyes lit in relief to have Eddie’s arms around him to protect him and love him. It was something he hadn’t felt in nearly 27 years and to have it with Eddie was a dream come true for Richie. 

Eddie tightened his legs around Richie to hold him steady and let him know that he was there. His one arm was draped around Richie’s chest as Eddie leaned forward to kiss the top of Richie’s head. Richie slightly pulled his head from Eddie’s lips. “I’m gross,” Richie croaked so raspy that Eddie barely could make out what he said. 

Eddie chuckled with a roll of his eyes. “You’re sick. Your’re not gross. Trust me, I’d be the first one to tell you. Just relax and let me be there for you like you were there to me when I first came home from the hospital. I want to be there for you now. The least you could do is let me,” he told him with a slight jab at the end since that was what Richie seemed to to respond to the most these days.

Richie laughed before grimacing and nailing his elbow against Eddie’s chest. “Ouch,” he rasped.

Eddie chuckled as he leaned forward and pressed another kiss to the top of Richie’s head. This time Richie didn’t push him away and Eddie was relieved. He pulled slightly back before threading his fingers through Richie’s hair and began to massage Richie’s scalp in an effort to make Richie more comfortable. He couldn’t really do anything about his sore throat or inflamed vocal cords, but he would still try to do his best to help Richie in anyway that he could. He just cared too deeply for him to watch him suffer.

“Just rest here,” murmured Eddie reassuringly. 

Richie let out a long sigh as he seemed to settle against Eddie’s chest. He then glanced up to Eddie with those pitiful eyes and Eddie felt a rush of even more affection. He closed the space between them to his own surprise and pressed his lips to Richie’s too warm lips. Richie lifted his chin even more to try and deepen the kiss with Eddie moaning slightly with pleasure.

Richie then yanked himself away from Eddie before Eddie even realized what was going on. He let out a whimper before he saw Richie cough painfully into a raised fist. He shook against Eddie as his lungs protested the lack of air they were receiving. Each cough was met by either a whimper or groan by Richie until he was able to breathe without hacking.

“I suppose we should save that until you’re better,” Eddie suggested as he felt his bottom lip tingle where he suddenly missed Richie’s touch, his lips specifically. Richie was a fantastic creature even with a fever. 

Richie raised his eyebrows in mock disbelief. He then settled back once more against Eddie, but this time wanted to hold his hands. Eddie wasn’t about to protest it as he used his arms wrapped around Richie’s neck and shoulders to grab Richie’s strong hands in his own. The two pressed together with Richie falling asleep to the steady thump of Eddie’s heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you all enjoyed and are staying safe and healthy!

**Author's Note:**

> There will be a second chapter for this fic. It won’t be vey long, but I just thought this story needed a little more. Hope you all stay safe and healthy!


End file.
